Countdown to 200th Anniversary of bridge crossing at New Hope-Lambertville

One year from Sept. 13, the bridge crossing between New Hope, Pa., and Lambertville will turn 200 years old.

History buffs in the Delaware River communities of New Hope, PA. and Lambertville
are preparing an educational video and several events to mark the occasion, which took place on Sept. 13, 1814.

The original bridge at the location – a wooden, covered structure designed by pioneering
American bridge designer Lewis Wernwag – operated as shareholder-owned toll facility with a schedule of toll rates that applied to wagons, horses, livestock and even pedestrians. It was built and operated by the New Hope Delaware Bridge Company, a private company created by special legislative acts in the two states in 1812.
Construction of the bridge was completed on Sept.12, 1814.

It “opened for business” the next day, according to the book Bridges over the Delaware River by Frank T. Dale. It immediately served as a more convenient and reliable travel alternative to the ferries that previously operated between the two communities. It was the fourth bridge to carry people, horses, and livestock between the two states, opening only a few months after the Centre Bridge upstream between Solebury, Pa. and what is now Stockton.

Wernwag’s design originally called for an uncovered wooden structure, but it was later
outfitted with a roof and wooden sides. According to Dale’s book, Wernwag required all
timbers to be sawed through the heart to “detect unsound wood, and to reduce the greatest width of a stick to six inches.” He also used iron bracings extensively in the structure, “a practice that was 75 years ahead of its time …” The company’s records state the cost ofbuilding the original bridge was $67,936.37.

The bridge remained in service until the flood of January 8, 1841, when a large portion of it on the New Jersey side was carried away and damaged to the extent of $40,000. The
reconstructed bridge consisting of new wooden covered sections remained in service until Oct. 10, 1903, when it was destroyed by the infamous “Pumpkin Flood.”

“Preserving Our Past, Enhancing Our Future”

The current steel Pratt truss bridge at the site also was constructed by private investors. It opened to traffic in 1904. The bridge continues in service to this day, operating on many of the original masonry piers that were constructed nearly 200 years ago.
Few of today’s bridge users may realize it, but the New Hope-Lambertville crossing has
operated longer as a toll bridge than it has as a non-toll bridge. Tolls were charged by private shareholders from Sept. 13, 1814 to Dec. 30, 1919 – a span of 105 years. The
crossing was purchased by the two states on December 31, 1919 and immediately freed of tolls. It has operated as a non-toll bridge ever since – a span of 94 years.

Under public ownership, the bridge initially was maintained and operated by a predecessor agency to the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission. Upon the Commission’s formal creation in December 1934, it then assumed the bridge’s management and operation responsibilities with the costs covered by tax-supported subsidies from the two states.

The bridge was operated in this fashion from Dec. 31, 1919 to July 1, 1987, when the two states transferred ownership outright to the Commission and directed the agency to operate and maintain the bridge without tax subsidies, using a portion of the proceeds from the agency’s seven toll bridges instead. This is the reason the bridge’s official name is now the New Hope-Lambertville Toll-Supported Bridge.